Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.

The 14th Finance Commission has increased the share of States in the central divisible pool from 32 percent to 42 percent.The commission confined itself to recommending grants for revenue deficit, disaster relief and local bodies and desisted from giving environmental, sectoral and other specific grants.

The tax-to-GDP ratio is an economic measurement that compares the amount of taxes collected by a government to the amount of income that country receives for its products.That income is measured in terms of the gross domestic product, or GDP, which is the sum of all products and goods sold, personal and government investment, and net exports. By comparing this amount to the amount that is collected in tax revenue, economists can get a rough idea of how much the economy of a specific government is fueled by its tax collection.

The most proximate reasons for the lack of cyclone formation in the South Atlantic are sea surface temperatures that tend to run a shade cooler than ideal for tropical cyclone formation even in the southern summer, climatologically high values of vertical wind shear across that basin throughout the year, and a lack of pre-existing centers of rotation (vorticity) in that area.

This last point is due both to the absence of tropical waves similar to those generated over west Africa in the northern hemisphere and to the fact the the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITZC), which shifts toward the north in our summer and toward the south in the southern summer, usually stays at or north of the equator.

Though many people might speculate that the sea surface temperatures are too cold, the primary reasons that the South Atlantic Ocean gets few tropical cyclones are that the tropospheric (near surface to 200mb) vertical wind shear is much too strong and there is typically no inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) over the ocean. Without an ITCZ to provide synoptic vorticity and convergence (i.e. large scale spin and thunderstorm activity) as well as having strong wind shear, it becomes very difficult to nearly impossible to have genesis of tropical cyclones.

So, ITCZ stays at or near the equator and does not shift southward over the south Atlantic or south Pacific region. Therefore, these regions do not have the ITCZ over them which is a major cause of lack of cyclone. While lower sea temperatures is also a cause, absence of ITCZ is the major cause, so the correct answer is b.

Electricity has the highest weight-age of 10.316% followed by steel with 6.684 %.

National Innovation Foundation-India is an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, based on the Honey Bee Network philosophy, which provides institutional support to grassroots innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders from the unorganized sector of the society.

IUCN is not an organ of UN. It has observer and consultative status at the United Nations.

There are two equatorial current flowing from east to west – the North EC and South EC. In between the two, there flows a equatorial counter current in the opposite direction, i.e from west to east. Now, it is said that piling up of waters in the area near Brazil, due to convergence of the two equatorial currents give rise to the equatorial counter current. This is because in this area due to convergence, the water is raised.

Dadabhai Naoroji, R. C. Dutt, Ranade, Gokhale, G. Subramania Iyer, were among those who grounded Indian nationalism firmly on the foundation of anti-imperialism by fashioning the world’s first economic critique of colonialism, before Hobson and Lenin

Targeted drug delivery is made possible by nanotechnology. Medical nanotechnology can largely contribute to genetic therapy and improvement. Diseases can be easily treated if approached at the genetic level. So instead of treating diseases based on the symptoms, nanotechnology will help medical practitioners treat the problem by looking at the root cause.

According to the proposals of the Cabinet Mission announced in May, 1946, the country could have a Federal government consisting of the British and the Indian India. The Federation was naturally to look after the national and international problems like the Defense and communication, the foreign affairs and the international trade while the provinces were to enjoy complete autonomy in Provincial subjects like police, agriculture, industries, educational and many other local problems.

It did not made any recommendation related to courts or ICS. Hence statement 2 and 3 are incorrect.

In the Namdapha National Park, located in Arunachal Pradesh, the climate varies from tropical to subtropical, temperate and arctic. It is tropical and subtropical in the southern region while it is of arctic type in the northern part of the park

Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights with over 7 million members and supporters around the world.

In Feudalism, there is no or a weak central authority. Feudalism is a synonym for “politically decentralized“. In a centralized kingdom, the monarch effects strong direct control over his entire state; in a decentralized kingdom, the monarch’s power is limited by the strength of local lords, who have significant autonomy (even though they are officially subject to the monarch’s rule). The term feudal can therefore be applied to any state that exists as a collection of significantly autonomous regions.

Statement 2 and 3 are correct. A person became a vassal by pledging political allegiance and providing military, political, and financial service to a lord. A lord possessed complete sovereignty over land, or acted in the service of another sovereign, usually a king. If a lord acted in the service of a king, the lord was considered a vassal of the king.

As part of the feudal agreement, the lord promised to protect the vassal and provided the vassal with a plot of land. This land could be passed on to the vassal’s heirs, giving the vassal tenure over the land.

The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL) is a multilateral fund, supported by donor governments and managed by the World Bank. It seeks to promote reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector, from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+), and from sustainable agriculture, as well as smarter land-use planning, policies and practices.

At present, India is not a member of APEC. It does not belong to the ASEAN group as well. The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian region. Membership expanded to 18 countries including the United States and Russia at the Sixth EAS in 2011. India is a member of EAS.

The coal found in India is manily of non-coking quality, and hence coking coal has to be imported. 70% of the steel produced today uses coal. Metallurgical coal – or coking coal – is a vital ingredient in the steel making process. Coking coal is converted to coke by driving off impurities to leave almost pure carbon. During the iron-making process, a blast furnace is fed with the iron ore, coke and small quantities of fluxes (minerals, such as limestone, which are used to collect impurities).

The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India deals with administration and control of scheduled areas and scheduled tribes in these areas. The Fifth Schedule covers Tribal areas in 9 states of India namely Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa and Rajasthan.

The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India contains provisions concerning the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

The Department of Economic Affairs (and not Revenue) is responsible for the preparation ofUnion Budget that is presented to the Parliament. The Public Account of India is operated by executive action, and hence no authorization from Parliament is needed.

The Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme was launched during 1996-97 to provide financial assistance, to expedite completion of ongoing Major/Medium Irrigation (MMI) including Extension, Renovation and Modernization (ERM) of irrigation projects. It was not for providing loan assistance to poor farmers.

The Command Area Development Programme was launched in 1974-75 for the development of water-use efficiency and speedier utilization of irrigation potential.

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body constituted in the Ministry of Environment and Forests under ‘Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989′, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

The Mekong–Ganga Cooperation (MGC) comprises six member countries, namely India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. They emphasised four areas of cooperation, which are tourism, culture, education, and transportation linkage.The organization takes its name from the Ganga and the Mekong, two large rivers in the region.

The westerlies generally blow between 30 ° and 60 ° latitude in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The higher one travels into the atmosphere, the more noticeable these westerly winds are. So, they blow between 30 to 60 degree North as well as 30 to 60 degree south. Statement 1 is saying 30 degree north to 60 degree south, which is incorrect, as we have trade winds between 30 degree north and 30 degree south.

Providing security is not the only objective of IOR ARC. It also works in the field on economic cooperation, including trade, tourism, education, ICT etc. Therefore, statement 2 is incorrect. It is not a recently formed organisation, but dates back to 1997. So statement 1 is also false.

Surat Split is mainly known for separation of congress partymen into moderates and extremists at the surat session of congress in 26 December 1907. This was the time of Swadeshi Movement.

The living root bridges of Cherrapunji, Laitkynsew, and Nongriat, in the present-day Meghalaya state of northeast India is a form of tree shaping, which creates these suspension bridges, they are handmade from the aerial roots of living banyan fig trees. So, Meghalaya is the answer.

The tide-raising forces at the earth’s surface thus result from a combination of basic forces: (1) the force of gravitation exerted by the moon (and sun) upon the earth; and (2) centrifugal forces produced by the revolutions of the earth and moon (and earth and sun) around their common center-of-gravity (mass) or barycenter.

With the Earth-Moon system, gravity is like a rope that pulls or keeps the two bodies together, and centrifugal force is what keeps them apart. Because the centrifugal force is greater than the Moon’s gravitational pull, ocean water on the opposite side of the Earth bulges outward.

The Sun’s gravity pulls ocean water toward the Sun, but at the same time, the centrifugal force of the combined Earth-Sun revolution causes water on the opposite side of Earth to bulge away from the Sun. However, the effect is smaller than the Moon, even given the greater mass of the Sun (greater mass means greater gravitational force). Why? Simply because The Sun is so far away — over 380 times farther away from the Earth than the Moon.

Remote sensing sateliites are not used for telecommunications or traffic studies.

Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests are typical rain forests which grow in those areas where the annual rainfall exceeds 250 cm, the annual temperature is about 25°-27°C the average annual humidity exceeds 77 per cent and the dry season is distinctly short.

The true evergreen forests are found along the western side of the Western Ghats (between 500 to 1370 metres above sea level) south of Mumbai, in a strip running from north-east to south-west direction across Arunachal Pradesh, Upper Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura upto a height of 1070 metres and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

So, they are not found in Himachal Pradesh.

The deployment of IndARC, the country’s first underwater moored observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord, half way between Norway and the North Pole, represents a major milestone in India’s scientific endeavours in the Arctic region.

Data collected by IndARC would be used for climate modelling studies to understand the influence of the Arctic processes on the Indian monsoon system.

The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is a World Bank programme and consists of a Readiness Fund and a Carbon Fund. The FCPF was created to assist developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, enhance and conserve forest carbon stocks, and sustainably manage forests (REDD+).

The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility assists developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and foster conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (all activities commonly referred to as “REDD+”) by providing value to standing forests.

So, statement 2 is false as it does not provide funds to universities, individuals or institutes.

Odia became the sixth language of India in February 2014 to get “classical language’’ status putting it in the same league as Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

Once a language is declared classical, it gets financial assistance for setting up a centre of excellence for the study of that language and also opens up an avenue for two major awards for scholars of eminence. Besides, the University Grants Commission can be requested to create – to begin with at least in Central Universities – a certain number of professional chairs for classical languages for scholars of eminence in the language.

The criteria for declaring a language as classical mandates high antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1,500-2,000 years, a body of ancient literature/texts which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers and a literary tradition that is original and not borrowed from another speech community. Also since the classical language and literature is distinct from the modern, there can also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation Partnership. Together they are 120 BirdLife Partners worldwide. BirdLife’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) Programme aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of IBAs for the conservation of the world’s birds and other wildlife.
The concept of ‘biodiversity hotspots’ did not originated from this organization. It was propounded by Norman Meyers.

Jordan does not open out in the Mediterranean sea, as it is bounded by Syria and Israel towards the side of Mediterranean sea

Tropical moist decidous forests are found in areas of moderate rainfall of 100 to 200 cm per annum, mean annual temperature of about 27°C and the average annual relative humidity of 60 to 75 per cent. The trees of these forests drop their leaves for about 6-8 weeks during the spring and early summer when sufficient moisture for the leaves is not available.

Teak trees are the most dominant species of trees found in these forests.Bamboos, sal, shisham, sandalwood, khair, kusum, arjun, mulberry are some of the other commercially important species found here

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) is an international declaration of women’s rights set up at the UN’s landmark Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995. The BPfA covers 12 key critical matters of concern and areas for action including women and poverty, violence against women and access to power and decision-making.

It completed its 20 years in 2015 and hence was in news.

The 20th anniversary of Beijing opens new opportunities to reconnect, regenerate commitment, charge up political will and mobilize the public. The Beijing Platform for Action, still forward-looking at 20, offers important focus in rallying people around gender equality and women’s empowerment. Its promises are necessarily ambitious. But over time, and with the accumulating energy of new generations, they are within reach.

In Equatorial climate while the morning is clear, by noon dark clouds surround and bring heavy but short duration rainfall.

Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the rate of growth of real GDP decreased. So, statement 1 is false. Statement 1 is true. Even though the rate of growth real GDP decreased, the actual GDP at market prices kept increasing. Please note carefully that statement 1 is about rate of growth (of real GDP), while statement 2 is about actual GDP (at market prices).

The constitution has fixed the maximum strength of Legislative council at one-third that of legislative Assembly. Therefore 1 is false. The Chairman of the Legislative Council is elected by the council itself from amongst its members and is not nominated by Governor. So, 2 is false.

Article 51 A (c) says – It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. This is a part of 4A of the consitution consisting of Fundamental Duties.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. So, A community of organisms together with the environment in which they live is the best description of the term ecosystem.

We can eliminate financial mobilization as that is not the “fundamental” objective of PRIs. Even though panchayats have powers to collect revenue, it is a mechanism to ensure they fulfill their fundamental objectives.

Peopl’s participation in development and Democratic decentralization are definitely the fundamental objectives of PRIs. PRIs brings the administration closer to people (decentralization) and provides a mechanism for people’s participation in development.

Monetary policy refers to the credit control measures adopted by the central bank of a country. The instruments of monetary policy are of two types: first, quantitative, general or indirect; and second, qualitative, selective or direct. They affect the level of aggregate demand through the supply of money, cost of money and availability of credit. Of the two types of instruments, the first category includes bank rate variations, open market operations and changing reserve requirements.

Decreasing the money circulation decreases the demand which helps in controlling the inflation. It is mainly effective for demand pull inflation.

Only 5 states are considered Nuclear Weapons States (NWS) as recognized by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NET). They are – USA, Russia, France, UK, and China. So, ans is a) 1 and 2 only.

There are few other states that have nuclear weapons, like India, Pakistan and North Korea. Further, it is also believed that Israel possess nuclear weapons. However, they are not recognized as NWS under NPT. This discrimination is one of the causes why India has not yet signed the NPT.

A welfare state is a concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. The Directive Principles of State Policy is guidelines to the central and state governments of India, to be kept in mind while framing laws and policies.
The concept behind DPSP is to establish a ‘Welfare State’ rather than a ‘Police State’ such as of colonial era. In other words, motive behind inclusion of DPSP is to establish social and economic democracy rather than Political democracy.

Capital augmenting technological progress results in more productive use of existing capital goods – for example – substitution of steel for wooden ploughs in agricultural production.

A parliamentary system of government is a system of democratic governance of a state in which the executive branch derives its democratic legitimacy from, and is held accountable to, the legislature (parliament). So, the executive (council of ministers) being responsible to Lok Sabha (part of Parliament) is why we have a Parliamentary system of Government.

H1N1 flu is also known as swine flu. It’s called swine flu because in the past, the people who caught it had direct contact with pigs. That changed several years ago, when a new virus emerged that spread among people who hadn’t been near pigs.

The decomposition of human waste in the bio-toilets is initiated by a bacterial inoculum (and not fungal).
Carbon dioxide and Methane are the end products released into the atmosphere.

When human excreta comes in contact with bacteria, it gets converted into methane and water through a series of steps of anaerobic digestion—hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis.

International Liquidity is the sum total of international reserves of all the nations participating in the world monetary and trading system. The term ‘International Liquidity’ comprises all those financial resources and facilities which are available to monetary authorities of member nations for financing the deficits in their international balance of payments. The problem of international liquidity is concerned with the imbalances in the demand for and supply of international liquidity.

As dollar is the dominating component in the forex, the problem of international liquidity is related to the non-availability of dollar and other hard currencies.

We know that Alternating Current is produced with the help of magnetic fields, so fuel cell cannot produce that. This eliminates all the option except a, which has to be tha answer. If pure hydrogen is used as a fuel, the fuel cell emits heat and water as by-products. Fuel cells can be used for powering small devices like laptop computers.

Kalamkari is an ancient Indian art that originated about 3000 years ago. It derives its name from Kalam meaning Pen, and Kari meaning work, literally Pen-work. The Kalamkari artist uses a bamboo or date palm stick pointed at one end with a bundle of fine hair attached to this pointed end to serve as the brush or pen.

The Machilipatnam Kalamkari craft made at Pedana near by Machilipatnam in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, evolved with patronage of the Mughals and the Golconda sultanate. There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in India – one, the Srikalahasti style and the other, the Machilipatnam style of art. So, option a) a hand-painted cotton textile in South India is the correct answer.

A village, wherein trained group of farmers are involved in production ‘of seeds of various crops and cater to the needs of themselves, fellow farmers of the village and farmers of neighboring villages in appropriate time and at affordable cost is called “a seed village”.

Introducing new welfare schemes will increase expenditure and thus will increase the budget deficit. Reducing revenue expenditure and rationalizing subsidies will cut down on the budget deficit. Expanding industries will also need investments which will increase expenditure. 

At present, Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma does not have the Geographical Indigation tag. Banaras Brocades and Sarees and Tirupathi Laddu both have the GI tag.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) was established on 11th March, 1987 as a Public limited Government Company under the Companies Act, 1956 and it promotes, develops and extends financial assistance for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency/Conservation Projects.
IREDA has been notified as a “Public Financial Institution” under section 4 ‘A’ of the Companies Act, 1956 and registered as Non-Banking Financial Company (NFBC) with Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which became the Government of India Act in 1919 clearly defined the jurisdiction of the central and provincial governments.

IceCube is an enormous particle detector located deep in the ice at the South Pole. IceCube searches for neutrinos from the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars. The IceCube telescope is a powerful tool to search for dark matterand could reveal the physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest energy particles in nature. In addition, exploring the background of neutrinos produced in the atmosphere, IceCube studies the neutrinos themselves; their energies far exceed those produced by accelerator beams. IceCube is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometer of ice.

Golan Heights is in Syria. However, the western two-thirds of this region are currently occupied by Israel, whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria.

All the three regions are in the present day Northern Indian Himalayan areas. The ninth century saw the rise of a number of hill states, some of which maintained their identity until recent years, despite their wars with each other and the frequent raids from the men of the plains. States such as Champaka (Chamba), Durgara (Jammu), Trigarta (Jalandhar), Kuluta (Kulu), Kumaon and Garhwal managed to remain outside the main areas of conflict in the northern plains.

Vamsadhara and Pennar are not the tributaries of Godavari.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a globally acknowledged hotspot of  biodiversity. It has various types of forests which include Tropical Evergreen forests, Moist Deciduous forests, Mangrove forests, Littoral forests and Bamboo and Cake Brakes.

 Avanti and Gandhara were not associated with life of Buddha, while Magadha and Kosala were.

Shortly after the birth of his son, Buddha left Kapilavatthu at the age of twenty-nine and headed for Magadha in search of spiritual truth.

Anathapindika was noted for his great generosity and a few years after Buddha’s return to Kosala, he paid a huge amount of gold to buy a park in Savatthi. The Kosala King Pasenadi first met the Gotama Buddha at Jeta’s Grove, when the Buddha was about forty years old. The Buddha greatly impressed the King, and subsequently Pasenadi also became one of his patrons and followers.

Introduction of the arch and dome in the region’s architecture was done during the Delhi Sultanate itself. Introduction of Gunpowder was during the mid 14th century.

Rajaji emulated his master (Gandhiji) by organizing a march from Trichinopoly to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast to break the salt law in April 1930.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a fund within the framework of the UNFCCC founded as a mechanism to redistribute money from the developed to the developing world, in order to assist the developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.

Forty years of pioneering work culminating in the successful launch of India’s first Mars orbiter in September 2014 has won the Indian Space Research Organisation the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014.